Violet Sabrewing

[Doug Brown]

From my last Costa Rica workshop. Everyone always has a great time with multiple flash hummingbird photography! The Violet Sabrewing is one of my favorite species.



Canon 1D Mark IV, 70-200mm f/4 + 1.4x @ 215mm, f/16, 1/200, ISO 250, multiple flashes, hand held

[Ofer Levy]

This is lovley! Excellent flash work and detail. Looks pretty sharp for 1/250 handheld....

[Arno Ellmer]

O wow ,Dan this is stunning !
I'm amazed at the frozen image and pin sharp wings at 1/200. Are the flashes mounted off camera ?
I just look in awe at these humming birds.
Will have to join you sometime ...

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful bird. Great comp, BG and wing position.

[Geir Jensen]

Beautiful bird. I understand why it is one of your favorite birds. Great comp

[Ofer Levy]

O wow ,Dan this is stunning !
I'm amazed at the frozen image and pin sharp wings at 1/200. Are the flashes mounted off camera ?
I just look in awe at these humming birds.
Will have to join you sometime ...

Arno, with the multi flash technique the shutter speed has no effect on the exposure. When the image is taken without the flashes it will be completely black. The only light which creates the image comes from the flashes. (usually 3-5). When flashes are manually set to 1/16 of their power the duration of the exposure is around 20,000th of a second or so. Fast enough to capture the wings sharp with no blurr. This is the reason you can get perfectly sharp image even when you take it handheld at 1/250.
Cheers!

[Arno Ellmer]

Thank you , for the good explanation , Ofer !

[James Salywoda]

Stunning Doug!!!! A gorgeous shot of this beautiful bird.

[Greg Basco]

Doug, nice portrait of this great species. You just had to prove how macho you are by handholding at a multi-flash setup, didn't you?

After you figure out the technical side (as Ofer explained) good multi-flash hummingbird is all about the positioning of the lights to get a natural look that doesn't scream FLASH! This one looks good to me.

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[Melissa Groo]

Absolutely beautiful bird and shot. Excellent sharpness, comp, BG.

[Tom Redd]

Amazingly beautiful, pose, exposure, colors - wonderful.

[John Guastella]

Awesome shot. Many excellent features, but the partially flared tail is what makes it for me.

John

[Stu Bowie]

Nailed Doug. Great set up with your flashes, and in turn, has brought out the wonderful colourful iridescence of this HB species. I do like your overall comp too. Well done.

[arash_hazeghi]

Awesome Doug!

See you in Orlando tmr!

[Pieter de Waal]

Stunning image Doug, just love the iridescent colours and detail.

[Mike Tracy]

Absolutely gorgeous bird. I like your angle to the hummer to catch both of the swept forward wings.

I notice the tip of the bill is markedly darker then the rest of it. Is the area of the bill thats lighter naturally like this or caused from the flash(s). Did you have to remove multiple catch lights and is the background a poster board or the like ? Thanks for any additional info because what goes into shooting these guys intrigues me.

[Doug Brown]

I notice the tip of the bill is markedly darker then the rest of it. Is the area of the bill thats lighter naturally like this or caused from the flash(s). Did you have to remove multiple catch lights and is the background a poster board or the like ? Thanks for any additional info because what goes into shooting these guys intrigues me.

I'm not entirely sure about the bill Mike. It's probably a combination of the directionality of the light and the shape of the bill. I did remove 2 catchlights, and the BG is artificial. Although it can be done, it's not easy to get a single catchlight in multiple flash hummingbird photography. BTW, I forgot to give credit to Greg Basco for his vast experience in hummingbird photography; he's taught me so much, and I believe he's the best of the best in that type of avian photography.

[Doug Brown]

Here's a 100% crop of the RAW file so you can see the extra catchlights and a close-up of the bill.

[Tin Man Lee]

Speechless with the beautiful colors, wing freeze, tail spread. Congratulations! Perfect!

[Greg Basco]

Aw, thanks, Doug. You're making me blush I just looked at a couple files that I have of this guy in flight with natural light, and the bill looks very similar to this one.

Doug's right that getting consistently good results with only one catchlight in multi-flash hummingbird photography is pretty much impossible. I spent a good six months trying to do so and, while I certainly got some keepers, I learned that it can only be done with certain flowers and with a very restricted set of hummingbird positions and poses. Nonetheless, this is something that I may revisit later this year just for the fun of it.

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[Keith Bauer]

...... BTW, I forgot to give credit to Greg Basco for his vast experience in hummingbird photography; he's taught me so much, and I believe he's the best of the best in that type of avian photography.

Ditto that. Greg's knowledge and expertise in high speed hummingbird photography is unparalleled. He's also a nice guy to be around

[Greg Basco]

Thanks, Keith. How much do I owe you for this?
Cheers,
Greg

[Doug Brown]

Appreciate the feedback. Heading out this morning on Jim Neiger's boat with Arash Hazeghi and Walt Anderson (the Better Beamer guy). Looking forward to a great week of photography!

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Doug! This image really shows all the colour variations of the Sabrewing.

[Kiran Poonacha]

the details with the pose adds greatly to this colourful frame... All the best for your trip, Have fun Doug Bhai...